The make up of editors at America’s top newspapers are a far cry from the diverse society many promote on their front pages and insist in their editorials.
A deep dive into the leadership at the leading 135 newspapers finds that most editors are white, male and the product of elite educations.
In a post headlined “Who’s the boss?” the Columbia Journalism Review found these traits:
- 73 percent are male.
- 9 in 10 are white.
- 109 different undergraduate colleges and universities are represented in this pool of 135 editors.
- 60 percent have a journalism degree.
- 27 percent have an advanced degree.
- 7 percent went to an Ivy League school.
- They attended private high schools at nearly twice the national rate.
There notable exceptions. CJR said 5 of 135 editors did not finish college, including The New York Times’s Dean Baquet and the New York Daily News’s Jim Rich.
And the journalism site said that one in three top editors have stayed close to their home roots, talking the helm of a newspaper within 150 miles of their high school.
